Someone Out There
by Arielle A. Dorkable
Summary: Cheryl Morgans has always been the girl of Zachary's dreams. But can a son of Apollo (who can't shoot arrows) win her heart? After she gives him three magic pearls, Zach is certain he can. But then he meets her sister, and they're sent off on a quest to kill Charybdis. Can they survive the quest and get what they want... without the help of magic pearls?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I've always loved the Percy Jackson series, So I figured I might as well try it out. I don't own Percy Jackson or the world he lives in (that privilege goes to Rick Riordan) but I do own some of the characters you're going to meet. Anyways, try it out. It's not much now, but I swear it gets better. Enjoy!**

**Oh yeah, I forgot to mention - this story takes place after the Titan War but before the giants and evil Gaea.**

* * *

I never thought I could love anyone more than Cheryl Morgans.

She was so beautiful, witty, and sweet. Everyone knew who she was, always surrounded by a crowd. She might not have been the smartest cookie, but her actions made up for it. She volunteered for extracurriculars that most people would never think twice about. She helped Chiron prepare for games and activities. Once, she even spent days helping rebuilding the Hades cabin after one of the Hephaestus inventions trampled it. I never thought someone so popular could be so _nice._ All of the other popular girls I knew couldn't care less about other people, but she acted as if they were her top priority. Yes, Cheryl Morgans was probably the most perfect girl alive.

With her sleek black curls and her big blue eyes, no one could have ever resisted her, and yet she never used that to her advantage. Everything she did was done with her own two hands, never by some starstruck admirer.

She was a dancer, and the most amazing one ever. That delighted grin forever spread across her face as she twirled and whirled and leapt through the air. She was so brave, adventurous, and always up for a challenge. Her confidence radiated with every step she took. Especially when she was onstage, crying out her heart with every scripted word written by someone else. And yet it felt like every word was true, not just some story she had to act, but a true emotion, a heart's desire.

She's sixteen this year, and already head counselor of the Hecate cabin. She's strong and loves her sword, long and lightweight, strapped to her waist. Her magic is like her words; quick and witty. On the battlefield, she's like a goddess, her eyes flashing with determination, a cocky grin almost always stationed there. She's amazing, charming, witty, confident, and _beautiful._

And she doesn't even know I exist.

* * *

"Zack! Hurry up! Games start in ten minutes!" Jeremiah screeches at me, "And I can't find my celestial bronze tipped arrows!"

With a sigh, I drop my pen and slide my journal close. "Coming!" I shout, "And your arrows are under your bed!"

Jeremiah tromps over to stand with his hands on his hips, his glare piercing. The sunlight streaming through our cabin curtains glitters in his golden hair, somehow making him look more menacing. Besides, Jeremiah isn't someone to mess with; he's seventeen years old, been at camp training for nine years, and slayed Stheno, one of Medusa's sisters. Which of course brought Euryale raging, and Chiron had to send another quest to kill her off - where Jeremiah was obviously the leader. Thank goodness that Percy Jackson guy killed Medusa - that would have been one too many gorgons.

He raises an eyebrow as I scurry to shove my journal under my pillow. "Writing again? You know, just because you're a son of Apollo, doesn't mean that you can spend all day composing love letters. You have to get out sometime."

"I'm not!" I snap, "You know, just because that _you're_ a son of Apollo, doesn't mean you can spend all day shooting your goddamn arrows."

He smirks, "Ooh, touchy, are we?"

I growl, "I am _not_ touchy! How would _you_ feel if _your _best friend came poking around where he shouldn't be and the girl of your dreams _doesn't even know you exist!?_" I exclaim.

He backs up, holding out his hands to stop me with a surprised expression. "Whoa, calm down, dude. Just saying. No need to get cranky."

I sigh, deflating. "It's okay. Just needed to vent it off."

He eyes me warily, "Yeah, sure, whatever." Then he turns and stalks out the door.

Great. There goes my best - and only - friend.

* * *

Capture the Flag was horrible that night. I get stuck with all the other weaklings at the outer boundaries to get our butts whipped. Some of the Demeter kids cross the creek and grows vines all over us, laughing like hyenas. After they dash off "to their victories", I manage to wriggle out out of my jail, only to have one stubborn plant attach itself firmly to my ankle, causing me to fall face-first into the creek.

Then that stubborn vine slithers up my leg and tangles me up into a cocoon.

"Splurgh!" I splutter, wrestling with the annoying plant. The stupid thing refuses to budge, tightening till my skin turns red. God. I hate magic plants.

Suddenly, a blade slices smoothly through the vines, with such skill that the sword barely brushes my skin. I shove away the vines, splattering water everywhere as I sneeze out the creek liquid in my lungs. Relieved, I look up to thank my savior, only to find myself staring up into Cheryl's angelic face.

_Cheryl_. Cheryl Morgans._ Cheryl Morgans_ just saved me from drowning in three inches of water. Oh my god. Kill me now.

She grins that cute cocky grin. "Figured you could use some help," She says, tilting her head, "Unfortunately, you prevent me from winning," Pursing her lips, she mouths "Sorry," and with a flick of her wrist, I'm sent flying back, slamming into a tree. Invisible bounds entrap me there, and a nymph appears, looking pissed off. She wrinkles her nose at us, fiddling with the ends of her scarf, before disappearing in a puff of green smoke.

Cheryl smiles, "I've been working on that one. It's one of my more difficult spells," She bites her lip, looking apologetic, "I _am_ sorry, but I really want to win this thing," The edges of her lips quirk up, "I'll make it up to you tomorrow." And with that, she turns and darts away.

I grin, enchanted, as she disappears into the woods.

* * *

Travis Stoll strolls by only to find all of us bound up with flower vines by the creek. He grins, snickering as he cut them lose. Then he got out his sword and tries to hack me out. When that doesn't work, he frowns and slid out his dagger. It slips on the smooth surface of whatever it is and impales itself in the tree.

The nymph appears with a yelp of pain. She glares daggers at Travis before stomping over to her tree, grimacing as she yanks out the knife. She hurls the blade at the ground, throws another glare at Travis and stomps off, disappearing in another puff of green smoke.

He grins, unfazed. Unfortunately, I'm still stuck to the tree, so Travis tries again. Same result, except the dagger cut me instead of the tree. I wince, which is kind of impossible against Cheryl's enchanted bounds, but somehow I manage. Travis is starting to look impatient, fidgeting about and constantly glancing back to where the action is, obviously eager to get back in the game. Finally he just tosses his knife to the ground and throws his hands up in defeat. He starts away, shouting over his shoulder that he'll get me out later, but we both know that he won't be back till long after the games are over.

With a sigh, I slump back against the tree and wait.

* * *

I was right. About an hour after Capture the flag finishes, does Travis bring anybody to get me out. And he happens to bring _Cheryl_. Cheryl, the one who got me in here in the first place. Cheryl, whose holding the shimmering orange flag. She smiles that cute smile and dips her hand in some type of liquid, dabbing her fingers over my invisible bounds. They fall away like ropes and lie in a heap on the ground. I step away from the tree, rubbing my arms where they dug into the bark, and Cheryl smiles apologetically.

Travis strides away, eager to get to campfire, but Cheryl stays behind and walks by me. I look down at her in surprise (I'm taller than her), raising my eyebrows.

She directs those big blues eyes at me and grins. "Sorry about that. I just really wanted to win," I nod slowly, not understanding what she's getting at.

She retrieves a small pouch from her pocket and places in the palm of my hand. "This is to make up for tying you to a tree."

I look down at it in confusion. Glancing down to her face, she's looking at me eagerly. I have no choice but to obey to those big blue eyes. Taking hold of the drawstrings, I pull it open. Inside are three, large, intricately painted beads.

"Um," I say, "Thanks?"

She laughs, a sound like tinkling bells. "They're magic pearls. Each one grants a single wish."

My eyes widen in surprise. "Wow. That must be some spell."

She beams at me, "Got it out of an ancient book."

Someone calls her name and she glances in their direction, "I've got to go. I'll see you around!" She kisses my cheek and bounds off.

My jaw drops in surprise. With a trembling hand I reach up and gingerly touch that cheek. Then my face breaks into a smile and I race through the woods.

Three wishes.

* * *

**So. What do you think?**

**I'm sorry that was told in several short chunks and pieces, but I just wanted it DONE. Anyways, please review. And I mean please!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I am back! Yes, I know it's been forever, and no, I am not dead. Though I know it's beginning to seem like it...**

* * *

I all but float through the morning. The whole cabin shot me weird looks, but who cares? My life has changed drastically.

Even through archery (which I'm supposed to be good at, being a son of Apollo and all) I smile throughout the entire class. And I hate archery. Healing, which is one of the only things I'm good at, floated past like a summer breeze.

Jeremiah was starting to worry about me; I can see it in his eyes. The way he watches me warily from across the room during wrestling, or glances at me through the corner of his eyes during during lunch... Oh yeah, he definitely suspects something. I'm proved correct after he corners me during basketball, while I was continuously smiling even after my teammates hit me on the head with the damn ball, trying to knock me out of my trance.

"What the **** is going on, Zack?" He hisses.

"Nothing much," I answer casually.

He glares at me.

I glare right back.

He seems taken aback by my boldness.

"Seriously, man, what's going on?" His anger seems to diminish slowly.

I only smile.

He narrows his eyes. "It's Cheryl, isn't it?" He demands, "Look, I know you like her, and that she promised she'd make it up to you for sticking you to a tree, but you're letting it get to your head," He shakes me, "Focus, man. C'mon. She's not worth it."

I snap like a rubber band. "Yes, she is! You don't know what you're talking about! She's the nicest, sweetest, most amazing girl in the world! There's no one like her! You don't know anything!" I shake out of his grip, shoot him my most serious glare, and stalk out to the basketball field.

"Zack!" Jeremiah calls, "C'mon, man, you know I didn't mean it. Zack!"

Sighing, I turn around. "I know you didn't. It's just... well... Okay, here goes." And I tell him all about the pearls. Every single detail. Their elaborate design, the blue-green and silver spirals swirling around it, the pride in Cheryl's bubbly blue eyes when she showed me her most intricate spell yet.

In the end, he's so amazed that he has no comeback for it.

Finally, he says, "You know about her sister, don't you?"

"What!?" I shout incredulously.

He raises his eyebrows, "Her sister. The entire camp's been gossiping about it. How can you not know?" Then he smiles, "Oh, maybe because you've been day-dreaming about Cheryl so much. You wouldn't have known if the camp caught fire and Medusa turned us all to stone."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, ha ha, very funny. Now what about her sister?"

He lowers his voice. "She's never known before, but she's a half-blood. Cheryl never told her anything, because they're not twins, and because she's not dyslexic, or has ADHD. She's the classic good girl, and not very athletic. No one had any reason to believe her mother was a goddess."

I lean forward, intrigued, "How'd they find out?"

"The satyrs found her. She ran away from her boarding school, and her father told Cheryl, because, well, running away isn't a very good-girl thing to do. Cheryl found this suspicious and told Chiron, who sent out about a dozen satyrs," He glances around, "When the satyrs finally caught up to her, she was being attacked by a manticore. They said she looked absolutely terrified, and was throwing these homemade bombs. And she had really good aim, hitting the dumb thing in the eyes."

My eyes widen. Natural skills of the demigods usually ignite when the demigod is in peril, and it certainly worked for Cheryl's sister. How come it doesn't work for me?

"Then she just went crazy, and these balls of flame ignite in her hands, then quickly turn to water, which she promptly propelled at the manticore. In the air it turned to ice and impaled the monster. When she finally saw the the satyrs, she screamed so loud that this haze rose from the ground and caused all the satyrs to fall to the ground, screaming in pain."

Really powerful demigod if she didn't know she was one before.

"Finally one of them managed to explain to her that they were there to protect her and she just collapsed, sobbing," Jeremiah says, "Poor girl. Top of all her classes, and she's managed to skip tenth grade. Now she's in eleventh and top of the whole school. She planned on going to Oxford. _Oxford_! Now all that's ruined because her father slept with some pretty face and had two kids."

I knit my eyebrows, "You said they're not twins? How is that possible?"

He rolls his eyes. "Duh. Isn't it obvious? Hecate fell for their father twice."

"Huh. Are you sure they're not twins?""

He nods. "Cheryl's younger, by around one year. She was born in December, and her sister in April."

I raise an eyebrow.

He looks cross. "Cheryl, December 21st, 1996. Her sister, April 7th, 1995."

"How do you know all this stuff?" I ask.

This time, he raises an eyebrow. "The Aphrodite girls will spill anything for a tube of lip gloss."

* * *

The entire camp was buzzing with excitement during dinner, for Cheryl's sister was arriving then. She'd been in the Big House with Chiron and the others. Not even Cheryl had been allowed to see her. There was talk that she was going insane, and Mr. D had been called to help her. This was proved wrong when Mr. D showed up in the dining pavilion and announced that she was doing fine and had only needed patch up some wounds.

"She needed some medical help," Mr. D says in a bored voice, "Those advanced spells drained her... Blah blah blah."

The atmosphere seems to relax after that. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase start making out in the corner, oblivious to the stares. Their embrace is so tight I can't believe they can even breathe. They're so engrossed they don't notice Chiron coming in, carrying a battered looking girl whose eyes are filled exhaustion.

Chiron clears his throat, trying to catch Percy's attention. This attempt is useless, as Percy's tongue is still down his girlfriend's throat. Giggles emanate from the campers as Annabeth's hand slides up his thigh and continues on till she cups his jaw, pulling him towards her. This continues for several minutes as Percy gets under her shirt.

Finally, Travis Stoll shouts, "Get a room, lovebirds! We want to meet the newbie!" and Annabeth pulls away, blushing beet red. Percy grins, unfazed. He reaches out to weave his fingers through hers and she smiles wryly.

"I'm sure that everyone has heard of Devorah already," Chiron says, "She attempted very advanced spells th-"

"DEVORAH!" Interrupts Cheryl as she barrels into the pavilion, obviously late from pulling together space in the Hecate cabin for her sister. She shoves past anyone in her way, almost tripping over a bench as she hurtles at full throttle towards her sister. Devorah smiles wearily as Cheryl pulls her into her arms, sobbing in relief.

Now Devorah's holding Cheryl, who's sobbing into her shoulder, mumbling something that vaguely resembles the sentence, "How c-could you?" in a wobbly voice.

And Devorah's comforting her in a soothing voice, patting her back gently. Her eyes reflect Cheryl's concern, along with sisterly love.

Finally Devorah holds her sister at arms-length and says, "Aren't you going to introduce me?" with a crooked smile.

Cheryl laughs it off easily, wipes her eyes, and turns to the rest of us. "So, this is Dev, my sister, who you've been gossiping about all afternoon," She smiles, "Don't think I didn't hear you. None of you are very secretive."

The pavilion erupts with laughter and Devorah laughs along with them. Cheryl pushes her sister in front of her and Dev shoots her a dirty look.

"She's also terrified of being the center of attention, but I'll force her tonight for you guys."

More laughter spreads and Cheryl looks smugly at her sister. Devorah glares back. Cheryl gestures for her to smile and Dev bares her teeth, looking annoyed. Cheryl smiles and whispers something in her ear and Dev breaks into laughter, that same carefree sound of Cheryl's. That's when I finally get a good look at her.

Her long hair is the same shade as Cheryl's, but falls past her shoulders loosely in sleek dark tendrils. Her eyes, unlike Cheryl's bubbly aquamarine ones, are blue-green, a soft shade of teal, but still framed by thick lashes. Her figure is less athletic than her sister's, but glows of intelligence. Her fingers are long and slim, like a pianist's. She's about the same height as Cheryl, despite the difference in age, and she's just as slim. Her eyes are aged with weariness, probably from her ordeal with the manticore. But she still radiates power, and magic.

Finally Cheryl just answers some random questions flung out from the dining pavilion, and Devorah gets acquainted with her new siblings. She's polite and patient, but she's shy, and her cabin mates quickly lose interest and move on to Cheryl, who's much more obliging, talking animatedly.

Devorah's dark eyebrows rise when we all rise and flock towards the roaring fire. But she stands up nonetheless and follows the crowd. Her eyebrows crinkle together as we each scrape a portion of our meal into the roaring flames. One of her siblings nudges her and explains the procedure with exaggerated gestures. Devorah's eyes widen in understanding and she nods silently, thanking her. The blonde, quickly losing interest, nods in return and wanders off to find her ditzy friends to gossip. I watch Devorah dump almost all of her meal into the flickering flames. Her jaw drops slightly as she inhales the amazing scent of the flames and a slight smile crosses her face as she gazes into the fiery red and orange tendrils reaching for the darkening sky. When she returns to her table, she's visibly more relaxed, as if she's made peace with the universe.

Her siblings attempt to engage her in conversation, but she's so shy that they quickly move on to gossip about her instead. She picks quietly at her food, not really eating the small remainder of her meal. She's so different from Cheryl, who's chatting away with anyone who'll talk.

I watch her poke and prod her potatoes, jabbing them around her mostly empty plate. She bumps into her carrots and slams into her mac 'n cheese, not caring that her food is mostly inedible now that she has them all mixed up in a pile on her plate. But it's not like she's eating anyways, so...

That's when I hear the rumours.

"She hasn't been claimed yet!" One girl from Ares whispers cruelly, "I heard that Hecate's not claiming her, ever!"

A chunky boy nods, "I heard that Hecate herself sent the manticore, because she's such a disappointment."

"I hope she leaves soon," The girl says, "She doesn't belong here." They both snicker loudly, their shoulders quaking.

The sound makes me clench my fists and grit my teeth. If Cheryl respect and accepts Devorah, if Cheryl loves her, then she is worthy of it. I trust her judgement.

I watch Cheryl talk with anyone and everyone, her smile animated. She laughs at lame jokes, encourages dreams and ideas, and basically makes everyone feel loved.

Then I watch Devorah jab at her food, silently shifting her mush around. I know she listens and watches, but she never attempts to join the conversation around her.

How can two sisters, each so different and unique, be so equally, majestically, powerful?

* * *

**Review. Review review review reviewreviewreview.**


	3. Author's Note

Hey guys!

So, I've decided to discontinue this story. I don't know who saw this, and I don't think many people did, but I'm going back to only using my other account, LiveLaughReadWrite. And I've decided to offer the idea to anyone who wants it, meaning that you get to continue this story, based on the info in the summary and Chapter One, or just taking the basic idea and making it your own.

Well, that's really all I have to say. I'm sorry for doing this to those few people who actually read it. Thanks MackMaverick, Tigerlils, and I'm sorry.

PM me if you want the story idea, at LiveLaughReadWrite.

Bye!

Arielle


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